Lifting-jack.



PATENTED JULY 1'7, 1906. W. G. WHITCOMB.

LIFTING JACK.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24. 1965.

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LlFTlNG-JACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

I'atented July 17, 1906.

Application filed April 24. 1905. erial No. 25 7,1 '70.

To all w/wm it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. WHIT- COMB, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lifting-Jacks, of which the following is a specification and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to a lifting-jack for raising and supporting heavy objects, and particularly to a device of this kind in which provision is made for permitting some lateral movement of the object while it is supported by the jack. .When railway-car's have been derailed, it is often necessary in replacing them to raise the car high enough for the flanges of the support it at this elevation while it is moved laterally until the wheels come into register with the track before it can be lowered into position. The common form of lifting-jack has been only applicable for raising the car to the desired height, and other means have been necessarily employed for supporting and guiding the car into position, as any attempt to move it laterally while supported upon the ordinary form of jack would merely result in overturning the jack. To obviate this difliculty, jacks have been constructed comprising a base and a lifting-standard secured to the base so as to be adapted to swing; but their use has not been much relied upon, owing to the difiiculty of exerting sufficient power in the right direction to move the supported load or swing the standard. I

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a lifting device which may find convenient use in replacing derailed cars or in any operation in which it may be required to raise a heavy object and move it laterally while supported by the jack; and it consists in a lifting-standard pivotally secured to a base, means for swinging the standard, and in certain other details of construction, all as hereinafter described, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a lifting-jack embodying the invention, some of the parts being broken away and Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.

The device is provided with a base 10, which may be of any desired shape, but is preferably quite broad in order to take a subbearing upon the ground, and has upturned bearing-plates 11 and 12. A standard 13 is oscillatably united to this base by a pivot-pin 14, extending through the bearing-plates 11 and 12 of the base and through the standard. This pin is of considerable size, for through it the entire weight of the load operated upon by the device is transmitted to the base.

A lifting-post 15 is carried by the standard and is provided with a claw 1.6 for engaging the object to be lifted. This post may be raised and lowered within the standard in any of the ways commonly employed for this purpose, and, as illustrated, this is accomplished as follows: The body of the post 15 is round and is threaded, as indicated at 24, the threads being engaged by a nut 25, rotatably supported in a suitable socket formed in the top of the standard 13 and having gearteeth, preferably those of a worm-wheel 26, formed about its body. This nut may be rotated in either direction to raise or lower the post by a worm-shaft 27 journaled in ears 28 28, rising from the standard, and the ends of the worm-shaft 27 are squared, as at 29, to receive a crank or cranks. (Not shown.) It is obvious that with lifting mechanism of this kind the load will be supported in any position without additional means for preventing the counter-rotation of the parts.

Lateral movement of the load while supported by the jack is provided for by a pivotal connection between the lifting parts and the base, previously described, which permits a swinging movement of the standard and lifting-post about the point of support. This movement is preferably controlled, as shown in the drawings, by a worm-shaft 30, j ournaled in cars 31 31, formed upon the standard 13 and engaging a segmental wormgear 32, fixed in position upon the top of a suitable support 33, rising from thebase 10. This Worm-shaft is actuated by means of suitable cranks, (not shown,) most conveniently those also employed for rotating the worm-shaft 27, and preferably applied, when the lifting operation has been completed, to the squared ends 37 of a crank-shaft 34, journaled in appurtenances of the standard at an angle to the worm-shaft 30, to which it is operatively connected by means of the bevelgears 35 36. interrneshing with those of the fixed gear 32, also serve as a lock for preventing the swinging of the standard while the device is employed for lifting.

The teeth of the worm-shaft 30,

IIO

' which it is united by the pivot-pin 42.

The device illustrated may be employed as a lifting-jack in the usual way. When the object operated upon has been raised to the desired height, it may be shifted in position, if required, without replacing the jack by other means of support by rotating the worm-shaft 30, thereby causing the worm to travel over the segmental gear 32 and to draw the standard 13 and lifting-post 15 to an inclined position.

The range of horizontal movement capa ble of being imparted to an object by the device may be increased by throwing the standard to an inclined position before bringing it into engagement with the object. If, then, in shifting the object the standard be swung past the upright position, it will be observed that the range of movement has been sub stantially doubled.

In order that the claw 16 may retain a firm hold on the object throughout the entire operation, it is preferably provided with a pivotal connection with the lifting .parts. For this purpose it is shown as having the depending wings 39 40, adapted to embrace the rounded end 41 of the lifting-post 15, t2 web 43 unites the wings 39 and may limit the movement of the claw by engaging the post at either side and preferably so as to always retain the claw sufficiently near the central position to engage the object whenever raised into contact with it.

I claim as my invention 1. In a lifting device, in combination, a foot-piece or base, an arm oscillatably attached to the foot-piece or base and adapted to engage by its free end the object to be raised, and crank-and-gear mechanism for swinging the arm.

2. In a lifting-jack, in combination, a base, a standard pivoted to the base and adapted to swing, lifting mechanism carried by the standard, and gear mechanism reacting between the standard and the base for controlling the swinging of the standard.

3. In a lifting-jack, in combination, a base, a standard pivoted to the base and adapted to swing, lifting mechanism carried by the standard, a gear fixed upon the base, and a worm journaled in the standard for engaging the gear.

4. In a lifting-jack, in combination, a base, a standard pivoted to the base and adapted to swing, lifting mechanism carried by the standard, and crank-and-gear mechanism independent of the lifting mechanism for controlling the swinging of the standard.

. WVILLIAM O. WHITCOMB.

Witnesses:

CHARLES B. GILLsoN, LoUrs K. GrLLsoN. 

